The Easy Way to Reverse and Manage Chronic Conditions

If you have a health condition, it can feel overwhelming, and a ton of work to reverse it. That can be true, but it doesn’t have to be that way. In my opinion, often, the simpler and easier the approach, the more likely you are to stick with it in the long-term. In all of my books, I state that any individual approach (exercise OR nutrition OR supplements) will improve (and sometimes completely reverse) a condition. Yes, you’ll get better results if you combine everything, but sometimes, that can be overwhelming.

In this article, I’ll go over the easy way to improve (and sometimes even reverse) chronic conditions.

Just so we make a distinction, what’s the hard way? The hard way is:

• Changing lifelong nutritional habits.
• Starting to exercise 2-5 days per week when you’re currently not exercising at all.
• Exercising in a different way than you’re used to.

Make no mistake about it – the hard way is very beneficial. But it’s not the only way. There are easy ways to improve many conditions.

So the approaches I’ll highlight in this article are all easy. They all meet the criteria of:

• No exercise
• No weight loss

Like I said, both of those are great methods to improve many conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.). But they’re not the only methods. There are ways to improve many conditions without exercise or weight loss.

In this article, we’ll cover the easy ways to improve/reverse:

• Osteoporosis
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Fatty liver
• Osteoarthritis
• High cholesterol/dyslipidemia
• PCOS (if you don’t know what that is, you probably don’t have it. It stands for “polycystic ovarian syndrome”).

 

Let’s get started.

The Easy Way to Reverse Osteoporosis

If you’ve read my osteoporosis book, you’ll know that both calcium and vitamin D are highly overrated.

In one study of 76,507 postmenopausal women, researchers divided them into 4 groups based on their habitual calcium intake:

• Group 1: <400 mg of calcium per day
• Group 2: 400-800 mg of calcium per day
• Group 3: 800-1,200 mg of calcium per day
• Group 4: >1,200 mg of calcium per day

There was no difference in the number of fractures between any of these groups. I go into way greater depth in my book. But this article isn’t about what doesn’t work. This article is about what works.

Protein works.

In another study of 125 postmenopausal women, their protein intake was analyzed, and they were divided into 4 groups based on their amount of protein intake.

• Group 1 consumed the lowest amount: under 16% of their daily calories came from protein.
• Group 2 consumed between 16% and 18% of their daily calories from protein.
• Group 3 consumed between 18% and 20% of their daily calories from protein.
• Group 4 consumed more than 20% of their calories from protein.

 

And here’s what happened during the time from the beginning of the study to the end of the study:

• Group 1 experienced 16 hip fractures
• Group 2 also experienced 16 hip fractures
• Group 3 experienced 7 hip fractures
• Group 4 experienced 5 hip fractures

 

So what’s the easy way to reverse osteoporosis? Eat more protein. How much? It depends on:

• Your weight (bigger people need more protein than smaller people)
• Your activity levels (people who do strength training need more than those who don’t)
• Your age (people over 60 need more protein than people under 60)

 

Generally speaking, here are the guidelines:

• If you’re strength training (and I mean real strength training – not body pump classes, or other classes that are cardio with weights) and you’re under 60, you need 6 grams/kg/day. If you’re over 60, you need 2.0-2.2 grams/kg/day.
• If you’re not strength training, and you’re under 60, you need 2 grams/kg/day. If you’re over 60, you need 1.5-1.7 grams/kg/day.

 

The Easy Ways to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

The majority of the conversation around nutrition for type 2 diabetes is all about carbohydrates. But I think it’s a misguided conversation. It lacks nuance. Both sugar and spinach are carbohydrates (yes, spinach is a carb). Can we really group those 2 into the same category? Technically, yes. Practically though, I like to distinguish between low-fibre carbs and high-fibre carbs.

It’s one thing having a diet made of 60% carbs, where your carb sources are pasta, potatoes, rice and bread. It’s a different story when your diet is still made up of 60% carbs, but your carb sources are beans, lentils, chickpeas and berries. Both diets contain 60% carbs, but one has significantly more fibre.

Restriction of anything (in this case, carbs) is the hard way. Addition of foods to your diet is the easy way.

So what’s the easy way to reverse type 2 diabetes? Eat more fibre.

One study compared 3 different conditions:

• Regular fibre intake (about 14 grams/day). This would be a cup of blueberries/raspberries/blackberries, plus a cup of beans.
• Regular fibre intake plus 10 grams of supplemental fibre
• Regular fibre intake plus 20 grams of additional fibre

 

The calories, protein, fat and carbs between all 3 conditions were virtually identical. The study was really set up so that fibre would be the big difference.

The results after 1 month:

• The fasting blood sugar of the group consuming normal amounts of fiber (about 14 grams/day) dropped by 0.45 mmol/l (from 8.12 to 7.67).
• The fasting blood sugar of the group consuming 10 extra grams of fiber (24 grams/day) dropped by 1.00 mmol/l (from 8.26 to 7.26).
• The fasting blood sugar of the group consuming 20 extra grams of fiber (34 grams/day) dropped by a whopping 2.58 mmol/l (from 8.71 to 6.13)

 

How much fibre do you need? Non-diabetics need about 14 grams per 1,000 calories. Diabetics, on the other hand, need 17-20 grams of fibre per 1,000 calories.

In my book, Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Secrets, I give a food list of the best fibre sources (surprise: vegetables don’t make the list), as well as other easy ways to reverse your type 2 diabetes.

 

The Easy Ways to Reverse High Blood Pressure

People often say they need to lose weight to lower that blood pressure. That’ll certainly work, but the statistics on people who are successful at maintaining their weight loss are not very promising. So that’s the hard way to reverse high blood pressure. The easy way is to eat more foods that are high in:

• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Omega 3
• Nitrates

To translate all these names to actual food, here’s what that looks like:

• Dates
• Dried apricots
• Potatoes
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Dark chocolate
• Brazil nuts
• Pumpkin seeds
• Almonds
• Salmon
• Sardines
• Herring
• Trout
• Spinach
• Beets
• Arugula
• Kale

 

Have a minimum of one of these foods with each meal. More is better.

One lady from the UK who bought my book (I don’t know her, and I’ve never been to the UK) said that after following just this advice from my book (never mind the parts about exercise and supplements), she lowered her blood pressure from emergency high (her words) to high-normal in 1 week.

 

The Easy Ways to Reverse Fatty Liver

Just as with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, weight loss is the most common advice given to reverse fatty liver. It’s a way, but it’s the hard way to do it. The easy ways are:

1. Eat more fibre.
2. Eat more protein.

 

In one study, researchers recruited 28 people with fatty liver, and divided them into 2 groups:

• Group 1: received 12 grams of fiber on top of what they were already eating.
• Group 2: received 24 grams of fiber on top of what they were already eating.

 

After 8 weeks, here’s what happened:

• Group 1 reduced their fatty liver by 17%.
• Group 2 reduced their fatty liver by 7%.

 

This happened without any weight loss.

Again, if you have fatty liver but you’re not a diabetic, get 14 grams of fibre per 1,000 calories. If you have fatty liver and you are a diabetic, get a minimum of 17 grams of fibre per 1,000 calories.

In another study, 37 people with fatty liver were divided into 2 groups:

• Group 1: 30% of their calories came from animal protein (they ate things like chicken, beef, pork, etc.).
• Group 2: 30% of their calories came from plant protein (they ate things like lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, etc.).

 

After 6 weeks, both groups reduced their liver fat.

• Group 1 reduced their liver fat by 48%.
• Group 2 reduced their liver fat by 35.7%.

 

Translation: eat more protein. How much? Same as people with osteoporosis. I dive into much greater depth in my book, Fatty Liver Reversal Secrets.

 

The Easy Way to Improve Osteoarthritis

As I talk about in my book, The Natural Approach to Osteoarthritis, the only thing that helps with osteoarthritis from a nutritional perspective is just weight loss. But that’s the hard way. Effective, but hard. In case you’re wondering, in the book, I talk about why common nutritional approaches to osteoarthritis aren’t effective (like the Mediterranean diet, anti-inflammatory diet, ginger, turmeric, garlic, berries, removing nightshades, etc.). That’s not what this article is about. This article is about the easy way.

The easy way to improve osteoarthritis is a type of exercise called “traction.” You don’t have to go to the gym, you can do it at home in about 10-15 minutes.

Traction comes from the word “distraction,” as in “pulling 2 bones apart.” The idea is to do the opposite of what arthritis does. If arthritis decreases the space between 2 bones (i.e. you lose cartilage), traction does the opposite – increases the space between 2 bones.

For example, let’s say that your arthritis is in your knee. You’d have a training partner (or a traction device) grab your calf and shin (like a sandwich) and pull them away from the thigh bone.

How effective is this? At least 3 studies (1, 2, 3) report an average reduction in joint pain of 24%. Which is particularly encouraging, since traction studies only last 1-3 weeks, and the duration of each “traction session” is only 10-15 minutes.

Again, conceptually, the way to do it is to pull 2 bones away from each other, but here are the specifics:

• Frequency: 3-5 days per week.
• How much force to put into traction: about 20% of your body weight. You can either use a training partner who can estimate how much pressure that is or get a device that does it for you.
• Duration: 10-15 minutes.
• Studies have shown success with both intermittent traction (pull for 30 seconds, relax for 5 seconds or pull for 20, relax for 10) and continuous traction.

 

Unfortunately there aren’t traction devices for every joint, but there certainly are for the neck and lower back.

 

The Easy Way to Reverse High Cholesterol/Dyslipidemia

For high cholesterol, there are 2 “Fs” that help (get your mind out of the gutter):

• Fiber
• Fish

Is there anything fiber can’t do?

In one meta-analysis, when people were given 10 grams of fiber on top of what they were already getting:

• Their total cholesterol dropped by an average of 7%
• LDL-C dropped by an average of 13%
• HDL-C dropped by an average of 1.57%. That’s not good, but the benefits of the larger drops in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol far outweigh the minimal drop in HDL-C levels
• Their triglycerides didn’t change

This goes back to our question of “how much fiber?” Fortunately, the answer is the same as for type 2 diabetes and fatty liver: if you’re not a diabetic, get 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories. If you’re a diabetic, shoot for a minimum of 17 grams per 1,000 calories.

In another study, 95 dyslipidemic (terminology reminder: “dyslipidemic” means either high total cholesterol, LDL-C, triglycerides and/or a low HDL-C) people were divided into 2 groups:

• Group 1: omega 3 supplements (2 g/day)
• Group 2: fish (250 grams of trout, twice a week)

Here’s what happened after 8 weeks:

	Group 1	Group 2
Total cholesterol	Decreased by 6%	Decreased by 27%
LDL-C	Increased by 16%	Decreased by 17%
HDL-C	Increased by 11%	Increased by 24%
Triglycerides	Decreased by 11%	Decreased by 29%

 

So as good as omega 3 supplements are (I discuss them in much greater detail in my book, High Cholesterol Reversal Secrets), fish is even better.

 

The Easy Way to Reverse PCOS

When it comes to PCOS, there’s a lot of talk about weight loss (it absolutely works, if a woman needs to lose weight) and carbs (which are overrated). But there’s not enough talk about meal timing. There’s nothing to restrict. You just have to change when you eat.

In one study, 60 lean women with PCOS were recruited, and divided into 2 groups:

 

• Group 1: Calories skewed towards breakfast. They had 54% of their calories at breakfast, 35% at lunch, and 11% at dinner.
• Group 2: Calories skewed towards dinner. They had 11% of their calories at breakfast, 35% at lunch, and 54% at dinner.

 

Both groups were told to eat 1,800 calories.

This was a nice, long study that lasted 90 days. Here were the results:

	Breakfast Group	Dinner Group
Insulin resistance	56% decrease	No change
Total testosterone	47% decrease	4% increase
Free testosterone	50% decrease	5% decrease
Androstenedione	34% decrease	No change
DHEA-S	35% decrease	No change
Ovulation rates	50% of women	20% of women

 

So the easy way to reverse PCOS: eat breakfast, skip dinner. Or at least have a small dinner. Don’t feel like eating breakfast? No problem. There are other easy ways to reverse PCOS that I discuss in my book.